> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://assemblyai.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Route to Default Language if Language Confidence is Low

This guide will show you how to use AssemblyAI's API to resubmit a request using a default language if the Automatic Language Detection's `language_confidence` is below a certain threshold.

## Getting started

Before we begin, make sure you have an AssemblyAI account and an API key. You can [sign up for an AssemblyAI account](https://www.assemblyai.com/dashboard/home) and get your API key from your dashboard.

## Step-by-step instructions

Install the SDK:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash theme={null}
  npm install assemblyai
  ```

  ```bash theme={null}
  pip install assemblyai
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Import the `assemblyai` package and set the API key.

<CodeGroup>
  ```js theme={null}
  import { AssemblyAI } from "assemblyai";

  const client = new AssemblyAI({
    apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY",
  });
  ```

  ```python theme={null}
  import assemblyai as aai

  aai.settings.api_key = "YOUR_API_KEY"
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Define a `default_language`, which should be set to the [language code](/pre-recorded-audio/supported-languages) that will be used to rerun the transcript if language detection runs with low `language_confidence`.

<CodeGroup>
  ```js theme={null}
  const default_language = "LANGUAGE_CODE";
  ```

  ```python theme={null}
  default_language = "LANGUAGE_CODE"
  ```
</CodeGroup>

Define an `audio_url` that is set to a link to the audio file. Define and set the parameters `audio: audioUrl` and `language_detection: true`. We also need to define our `language_confidence_threshold`. For the purposes of this example, we'll set it to 0.8, representing 80% confidence.

If a transcript ends up with a `language_confidence` below this value, the transcript will error out and will return the transcript using the `default_language`.

<CodeGroup>
  ```js theme={null}
  const audioUrl = "https://example.org/audio.mp3";

  const params = {
    audio: audioUrl,
    language_detection: true,
    language_confidence_threshold: 0.8,
    speech_models: ["universal-3-5-pro", "universal-2"],
    // Add any other params
  };
  ```

  ```python theme={null}
  transcriber = aai.Transcriber()
  audio_url = ("https://example.org/audio.mp3")
  config = aai.TranscriptionConfig(language_detection=True, language_confidence_threshold=0.8, speech_models=["universal-3-5-pro", "universal-2"])
  transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_url, config)
  ```
</CodeGroup>

You can handle the error safely by checking the error message and rerunning the transcript with the `language_code` set to the `default_language`.

The error handling flow works as follows:

1. If there is no error, the transcript ID and text are printed
2. If there is an error:
   * Check if it's related to `language_confidence` being below threshold
   * If so:
     * Print message about rerunning with default language
     * Create new transcript with `default_language` as the `language_code`
     * Print new transcript ID and text
   * If not:
     * Print the error message

When rerunning with the default language, the configuration is updated to:

* Turn off `language_detection`
* Remove `language_confidence_threshold`
* Set `language_code` to the `default_language`

<Note>
  You will not be charged for the first transcript if there is an error. You
  will only be charged for the transcript that processes successfully.
</Note>

<CodeGroup>
  ```js expandable theme={null}
  const run = async (params) => {
    const transcript = await client.transcripts.transcribe(params);

    if (transcript.status === "error") {
      if (
        transcript.error.includes(
          "below the requested confidence threshold value"
        )
      ) {
        console.log(
          `${transcript.error}. Running transcript again with language set to '${default_language}'.`
        );
        params = {
          ...params,
          language_detection: false,
          language_confidence_threshold: null,
          language_code: default_language,
        };
        run(params);
        return;
      }

      console.log(transcript.error);
      return;
    }

    console.log(`Transcript ID: ${transcript.id}`);
    console.log(transcript.text);
  };

  run(params);
  ```

  ```python theme={null}
  if transcript.error:
      if "below the requested confidence threshold value" in transcript.error:
          print(f"{transcript.error}. Running transcript again with language set to '{default_language}'.")
          new_config = aai.TranscriptionConfig(language_code=default_language, speech_models=["universal-3-5-pro", "universal-2"])
          transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_url, new_config)
          print(f"Transcript ID: {transcript.id}")
          print(transcript.text)
      else:
          print(transcript.error)
  else:
      print(f"Transcript ID: {transcript.id}")
      print(transcript.text)
  ```
</CodeGroup>